New Roomba 500 series

Posted by: Robotic

New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 16:31

I think there are a couple of other Roomba affectionados out there in empegland... so I'll share this news here.

iRobot's intro-info page
http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=334

RoombaReview forum thread
http://www.roombareview.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=6043

I'll be shipping back my 'broke-six-ways-from-Sunday' Discovery from 2004 to Hammacher Schlemmer as soon as they start stocking the new 570. Yay for full-refund guarantees!

BTW, I'm up to 7 Roombas.
Disco I - HammSchlem, broken down and used for parts
Disco SE - Amazon refurb, works fine, out on loan
Disco SE - craigslist, works fine, out on loan
Disco SE - craigslist, gone crazy
Gen I - free from friend, gone crazy: possible transmission failure
Gen I Pro - craigslist, brushes not turning
Red - craigslist, works fine

I must be nuts.
Posted by: andym

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 16:53

With your handle I wouldn't expect anything else!
Posted by: Dignan

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 17:04

I love my Roomba, and I finally got to use my Scooba recently, and it seems to do quite a good job as well.

Here's a video comparison on Engadget. I think he spends a little too much time on how the Roombas deal with cables. I assumed every Roomba owner carefully routes their speaker/power chords to accommodate their robots...
Posted by: drakino

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 17:36

Quote:
Here's a video comparison on Engadget. I think he spends a little too much time on how the Roombas deal with cables.


Agreed. While the video shows both the older and newer models running, it doesn't really show the differences. Does the new one clean better? How does the lighthouse mode on the walls work? How much bigger is the new dirt bin next to the old one?

I'm pondering giving my Discovery away as a gift as an excuse to upgrade, but not really sure it's necessary yet. I'll probably hold off till the 5xx series shows up in the refurb channels.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 17:45

There are definitely some features to the new one that make me want one. The primary one just may be that it's supposedly sealed much better, so you don't end up cleaning every crevice of the robot. I've been using my Roomba in my office for the last several months, and it gets pretty dusty in here. When I go to empty out the waste bin, I end up at the sink for half an hour, cleaning the dust out of everywhere.
Posted by: Robotic

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 23/08/2007 18:33

Quote:
When I go to empty out the waste bin, I end up at the sink for half an hour, cleaning the dust out of everywhere.

I take the roombas out back and blast them with compressed air every once in a while. That cleans out all the nooks and crannies as well as the filter. Come to think of it, I've never replaced a filter, just keep on air-hosing them off.
The air blasting usually fixes some minor behavior issues, too. Erroneous 'cliff-edge' signals disappear.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: New Roomba 500 series - 25/08/2007 16:06

Don't enslave the robots. Some day they'll enslave you.