Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Customer Reviews for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

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iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Model: 53201
SKU: 9502745
UPC: 885155000019
This robotic vacuum cleaner features a cleaning head that automatically adjusts to carpet or hard floor to remove dirt, dust and pet hair. 2 interchangeable cleaning bins allow for everyday or heavy-duty vacuuming.
Average Customer Rating:
4.222 out of 5
4.2
 out of 
5
(9 Reviews) 9
Open Ratings Snapshot
Rating Snapshot 9 reviews
5 stars
4
4 stars
4
3 stars
0
2 stars
1
1 star
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89% of customers would recommend this product to a friend 
(
8 out of 9
)
Customer Reviews for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White
Review 1 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Not perfect, but good enough

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Christine8274
from Hatfield, pa
on 12/08/2010
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Quality
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Features
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Performance
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Pics up dog hair, but not all of it. When it goes from hard wood floor to carpet it leaves hair on the edge of carpet. Lately it has been saying "error" a lot and stopping, but hopefully this is not permanent. Still love it because it saves me from vacuuming everyday.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 2 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Seems great, performs poorly

Customer Rating
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Posted by: sergeantawesome
from Colorado
on 11/28/2010
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Quality
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Features
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Performance
1.0 out of 5
1.0
What's great about it: Fun to watch, cliff detection
What's not so great: Its cleaning abilities
I had recently bought the Roomba pet version a few weeks ago. I thought this thing would be amazing given a lot of the other reviews. It sounds like it would be great if you have pets (as it should.) This couldn't be farther from the truth. When I check the dirt tray, it would have some dog hair in it, but looking at the carpet, I couldn't tell the roomba had been there. I vacuumed the floor with a normal vacuum, then would use the roomba to try to maintain the clean floor, but it does not. It constantly misses certain areas while concentrating on others heavily without actually cleaning. On the hard wood floor, it just pushes the dirt and pet hair to other locations without really picking it up.
The towers it comes with seem to have a short distance and even with a clear path to a wall, the roomba somehow manages to get by it. The automatic docking is not very automatic. Most of the time it is within a few feet and is constantly doing circles to try to find the docking station to recharge. The cliff detection did work, so that was good. It is fun to watch, which may lead some to believe it is actually working.
The "precise" patterns it makes to ensure a clean area seems to be nothing more than random bouncing off of walls and turning around at completely random times. It would go along some walls 6-7 times and miss others completely. The dirt detection was also very random as well, at least as far as I could tell. It would bypass areas with more dirt, and once in a while use dirt detection on other areas that had what seemed to be normal. Did not pick up a lot of visible pieces of dirt, just threw them to another area.
Mine already has problems and I have to take it in to get looked at. It is constantly reminding me to clean the brush compartment, but I cannot clean it anymore than I already have. I would think that this product would have things in place to prevent dog hair and dirt from getting into some of the sensitive areas, but it doesn't look that way. One thing I can agree with on most reviews is get the black tie protection.
If you want something to entertain guests, get one. If you want one that will clean, buy a real vacuum. While the convenience of a robot vacuum sounds great, it could only be great if it did clean.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+15points
21out of 27found this review helpful.
Review 3 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Awesome for Picking up Kitty Litter

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: toty2001
from Tucson, AZ
on 10/29/2010
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Quality
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Performance
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: I can be vacumming and relaxing at the same time.
What's not so great: A little noisy
I love the Roomba, it quickly cleans up the kitty litter that gets kicked out of the litter box while also picking up all sorts of dirt and hair from all over the house. It is a little loud on the tile and needs to be cleaned frequently when you first start to use it (Because it will find a lot of hair in your carpet) but otherwise it's great. It goes all around the house for about an hour and a half before it needs to be recharged and picks up more stuff than you could have possibly thought was on your floor. Occasionally it gets stuck but it calls for help and it's easy to pick it up and move it. If the Roomba is dusty on the bottom it has a hard time docking so be sure to wipe off the underside of it occasionally. Also be sure to buy the 4 year warranty because rumor has it that they wear out about every 1.5 years.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+18points
18out of 18found this review helpful.
Review 4 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Little Pricey

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: jd727
from Middletown, NY
on 10/09/2010
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Quality
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Performance
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: does what it says.. good entertainment for my cats..
What's not so great: pricey, rollers need to be cleaned daily..
For what it is I think it's over priced. I have 3 herniated disk in my lower back and dust allergies so it's been nice not having to do the everyday vacuuming.. It doesn't get every little thing but since I run it every day as I'm leaving the house it does get the job done. Did have to play hide and seek with it a few times. It somehow manages to get stuck under my couch but otherwise it works well. Knock off $100 bucks and I'd buy a few for xmas gifts.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+9points
9out of 9found this review helpful.
Review 5 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Love it!!!

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: psnickety
from Houston
on 09/14/2010
What's great about it: I can turn it on set up "virtual walls" and leave it to self-dock
What's not so great: ??? Haven't found a flaw yet
My Roomba is so easy to use and it's amazing to see how well it cleans under furniture and doesn't miss a spot. I have 3 small dogs and it gets all the hair as it "dusts" my tile floor. Pet Roomba is my new "best friend".
I would recommend this to a friend!
+5points
5out of 5found this review helpful.
Review 6 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Roomba is a great helper

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Daxia
from Damascus, MD
on 06/08/2010
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Quality
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Performance
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Easy and simple instructions. Roomba works when I go to sleep!
What's not so great: Still not best for corners and edges
Great for pet hairs and dust. I normally set it to clean when I go to bed. In the morning, it's amazing to see how much dust/hair/lints it collected in the bin. It is a little pricy but we need "somebody" to vacuum for us. Even though I'd rate it does about 85% of the job, it's a lot better than 0% of the job.
This is our 3rd Roomba. They do tend to break after 1.5 years, so we got the 4 year protection plan. I think it's worth it.
The best thing of Roomba is: you don't need to do the work yourself!
I would recommend this to a friend!
+16points
19out of 22found this review helpful.
Review 7 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

Effective, but not a miracle worker.

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Mindbreak
from Old Bridge, NJ
on 02/26/2010
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Quality
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Performance
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: Effectively keeps your floors clear of excess dirt, dust, fur, etc. keeping your floors and carpets clean, overall.
What's not so great: There's no powerful suction, so for deep-cleaning of a carpet, you also need a regular vacuum cleaner.
Overall very happy with this roomba, we run it a couple times a week. When it runs out of battery power, it successfully returns to the home base for charging.
You do indeed need to clean all the brushes and the dust bin after EVERY use! No exceptions, you won't get away with cleaning it every other time, not if you let it run until it goes back to the charger. I guess this is a good thing. It means it is very effective at picking up the fur of our cats, dirt we've tracked in, hair, crumbs, whatever.
As effective as it may be at picking all of this up, if you inspect the carpet closely after running it even several times on the same carpet, you will see that it didn't deep-clean the carpet. You will still see some of the hard to get fur, etc stuck to the carpet. We have several different types of carpets at varying heights and it's the same story with all of them.
Still, everything will be very clean for the most part, it's only upon close inspection that you will find this issue. If you think about it, it makes sense, there's no powerful 12 amp motor sucking up everything from the carpet fibers. It gets most of the debris with the brushes and the little suction that it does have.
It's also very effective at getting into corners, avoiding stairs and finding it's way around. Overall very pleased with it. We bought a powerful hand vacuum by Bissel for the furniture and whenever we feel we want to deep clean the carpets.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+15points
16out of 17found this review helpful.
Review 8 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY!!!!!

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: ChipsMom
from Jacksonville, NC
on 01/24/2010
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Quality
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Performance
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Makes life so easy!
What's not so great: Short battery life
This is my second Roomba purchase and I have learned SO MUCH with the first one. I would like to pass on my experience so that everyone out there can make a better decision. I wish someone had told me this before I bought the first one or I wouldn't be buying a new one now. The Roomba is such a wonderful little vacuum cleaner. Yes, it really does clean your house as well as they advertise. The issue is that they just don't last for more than about a year. This is not just my experience, but the experience of everyone I know who has ever owned one. The product is covered by a one year manuf. warranty and trust me you'll use that at least once to replace the battery. I would VERY STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you purchase the extended warranty. You will use it. I'm very excited to get my new new Roomba "Pet" and I have no doubt that it will work very well and clean my house very well until the battery starts to die. As long as you purchase the extended warranty you should be very happy with your purchase and it will be worth every penny. I went through two batteries in under two years with the old one, and of course I did not purchase the extended warranty, so once it was out of warranty it just made more sense to buy a new one rather than keep replacing the very expensive batteries. If you have allergies or pets these little vacuums are worth their weight in gold.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+19points
23out of 27found this review helpful.
Review 9 for iRobot Roomba Pet Series Bagless Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - White

love it, love it

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: ruth1966
from tyler, tx
on 01/11/2010
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Quality
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Performance
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: does the job
What's not so great: hope it will last
Got roomba for Christmas and have used it approximately 10 times thus far. We live in approximately 2200 sq ft house and we have wood floors throughout. We also have a dog and 2 cats who shed hair like there is no tomorrow which was the major reason for our purchase -- to help with daily upkeep of the pet hair in our home.
Pros -- cleans very well and for an extending time in the area we assign it to clean -- easy to clean up the roomba after it does it's job -- gets under most furniture in our home -- gets under cabinets with ease -- picks up sand, hair, leaves, etc with relative ease -- easy to move from area to area to clean -- no problems with getting stuck -- is great for day to day cleaning
Cons -- based on reviews I have read other places, I am concerned about roomba's "lifespan". I can not really comment on this as we have only had the machine for a couple of weeks. The only other cons that I have encountered which I consider very minor are that it does have problems (even with the sweeper brush) reaching really tight corners and it must be cleaned after each use (particularly I would think if you would like it to last as long as possible) because you will get an error code that instructs you to clean the brushes.
I also make a point to move little items (stools, some chairs, pot plants, etc) so that it has easy access and more maneuverability in the cleaning process, which can be a little time consuming.
I gave a slightly lower rating on price because, in my opinion, everything could always be a little less expensive than what we pay (although, roomba is certainly less expensive than hiring a housekeeper to come in once a week!).
Overall, I am very happy with this product and have been telling all of my friends about it. I would make the purchase again and, although price prohibits it, I would gladly purchase a roomba for each room of the house. As a side benefit, it is entertaining to watch, especially when watching the reactions of our pets as she goes by (we have named our roomba Helga).
I would recommend this to a friend!
+16points
20out of 24found this review helpful.