Scooba

[omly]

nanoedith mentioned in this post that "Greater Boston" (at 7 on channel 2 if you are in the Boston area) on WGBH will be doing an episode about iRobot tonight. Scooba was just released, though unless you ordered it directly from the website it will be a little bit more until you can actually get one.

Roger brought one home a little bit more than a week ago, and it was so cool! Granted I love our Roomba, but Scooba was able to get up a lot more up on the linoleum in the kitchen. It does not get all of the water in its final squeegee, but it only leaves behind a super thin layer that readily dries. I really like the smell of the cleaning solution too.

My only complaint about Scooba is that it is louder than Roomba, to the point where I would not actually want to be in the same room as it cleans. I guess this should encourage me to actually do other things while it is running rather than watch in fascination though. So neat! I definitely want to see about getting one of these when they are not so scarce.

Comments

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

Aha! This is the second post I've seen in as many days about these machines. I must ask my important question, though. What size particles can they vacuum up?

My guinea pig runs around his cage and kicks litter and little poops all over the floor, and I think a roomba or one of these new moppy dealies would be great for keeping the mess down. The litter is the size of small pebbles or very large sand grains, about half the size of my pinky fingernail. Do you think the machines would get all clogged up or just leave them on the floor? Do you think it would actually be able to pick them up on the order of a few tablespoons per day without breaking?

I'm totally into the idea of a cleaning robot, especially since it would encourage me to keep clothes and such off the floor.

Thanks!

[omly.livejournal.com]

I think it should be fine. I know that Roomba can easily pick up kitty litter, nuts and bolts, sand, dirt, etc. A few tablespoons is a fairly neglible amount. The only thing I would worry about is the consitency of any poops. Are they realitively dry? Otherwise it might stick. The Scooba does really great with wet stuff though. I know they did a bunch of stuff having it clean stuff as nasty as dried (tacky) molasses and condiments.

The other sort of things that I have found that Roomba has problems with are 40+ pennies (it does pick them up but can get jammed with that many), long hair has to be periodically cleaned out of the brushes (it has an easy tool for this though), and yarn (do not keep knitting near the floor; it can pull the knitting off the needles and pull out all the stitches). Maybe something could be arranged at some point to have you try one out?

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

If it can do nuts and bolts, it can totally do Pigpigpig litter and poops. His pellets are totally dry, and even if they fall in water they only get a little slippery, not smooshy.

It would be good for me to start paying attention to keeping stuff like pocket change (and especially my clothes) off the floor, and while Nathan has long hair he's not around often enough for that to be a regular problem. The yarn warning is totally appreciated. Luckily, I crochet, so it wouldn't be quite the disaster of knitting, but it can still unravel any work I've already done.

This purchase is waiting until after the first of the year, but it's definitely happening! The only question is: roomba or scooba? If the scooba were to break, it would be a much bigger (and wetter) mess, and I have a swiffer mop that takes care of spills quickly. Having -always- clean floors, though...

[omly.livejournal.com]

Well what type of flooring material do you have? Laminate flooring is not great Scoomba (actually the other way around). Also Scooba is a much newer product, if I didn't have someone in house to fix it I would probably wait until they had been out maybe 6 months to work any the bugs. Roomba might be a better choice especially if you have carpet anywhere else in the house, because you could use it in any room.

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

I have an ancient but recently re-sealed hardwood floor. Letting the dust settle on the scooba sounds like a good idea, though. Next summer, if the scooba can pick up the litter, I think that would be the best way to go. I actually have a studio and only two small rugs (both bathmats, one in the bathroom and the other in front of the kitchen sink).

[infinitedomain.livejournal.com]

Do those things really work?

[omly.livejournal.com]

Which Roomba or Scooba? Roomba does. I love ours. Scooba I have only used once, but seemed to do a pretty good job.