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Apr 29, 2005 5:48 pm US/Eastern
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Putting the 'Roomba' to the Test
Pittsburgh (KDKA) ―
It's billed as a vacuum that cleans up -- even when no one is home; but does it live up to the hype? KD Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos puts the "Roomba" to the test. With two kids, two cats and a dog, Lori Ferry of Churchill is a busy woman; but while she thought the idea of a self-propelled cleaning product was a great one -- she admits she had her doubts.
"I didn't think it would do anything," Ferry said. "I didn't think it would clean heavy enough for it to be worth anything."
'After one week of testing this robotic floor cleaner, though, Ferry was convinced. "Oh yeah, it works!" Ferry adds, "It goes under the couch -- it picks things up. It picks it up to make a difference to me!"
Ferry says the Roomba sailed through her carpeted family room -- sucking up crumbs just as well as it cleaned up her wooden floors. It even tackled hard to reach places like under the couch and around table legs.
The Roomba worked for two hours without complaint; and it got just one complaint from Ferry. "The compartment is not that big," she explains, "so you would never run something like this for two hours and not empty it." But, she adds, "it's very easy to do."
While Ferry says the Roomba isn't the tool for deep cleaning -- and won't replace her regular vacuum, she admits she's thinking about investing in a Roomba of her own. "Oh I would get one of these!"
Is it worth it?KD Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos agrees that the Roomba did a great job of sweeping up the dust and crumbs that can add up in between cleanings; but at a price of $279, she says it depends on how much you're willing to pay for that extra help around the house.
For more information, click on the following link:
"Roomba: Robotic Floor Vac," iRobot: Robots for the Real World