Is Roomba easy to use?

When we first decided to do a Roomba review site - one of the stipulations my husband and I agreed upon was that in order for our reviews to be completely unbiased and truthful - we would have one person go through the entire process (buying to maintenance). Being responsible for a robotic vacuum cleaner would be no easy task for me. As I stated before - I consider myself to be extremely "technologically challenged". My husband will wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Let me explain. When my husband and I met in 1990, I was still using an old 8 Track Stereo system - and quite happy with it I might ad! He bought me a CD player that first Christmas we were together, so I skipped the "cassette era" entirely. I have never been able to program our VCR - or any VCR for that matter, AND I struggle using our DVD player. I think you get the picture here.

Consumer reports on Roomba

Yes, you guessed it - I will be the consumer reporting on the Roomba Scheduler. I am 45 years old and have had no previous experience with anything robotic. The ultimate goal here being that I am going to attempt to learn how to:

• Install this robotic vacuum cleaner system in my home
• Make sure it works properly
• Perform any necessary maintenance on it when needed
• Learn how to run the scheduler functionality
• Set up the "virtual walls" that supposedly block Roomba from going where you don't want it to.
• Report my findings on this website (at least I know I will be able to do this one with no problem!)

This should be quite the feat coming from the woman who misses her 8 Track Tape Player and who still can't program a VCR.

Step 1 - Charging your Roomba Battery

Determined to at least be able to plug the thing in I pulled out the little black Booklet #2 called "User Manual" and set out on my quest for cleaner floors. Following the simple instructions I did figure out how to get the battery in my Roomba and plug it in so it would charge up - charging process will take up to 3 hours. When the unit is charged the "power light" will turn solid green - we shall see. While the instructions are typed in a very small print (something the marketing people will hear about from me) and difficult to read - they are NOT difficult to comprehend.

So far - so good

In approximately 1/2 an hour I have read through the entire User Manual (something my husband would have never done!) and plugged it in to start the battery charging process. After about 1/2 hour into the charging, I even got my new Roomba to automatically position itself on it's home base - or "docking station" as it is also called. In the mean time, I am careful to "puppy proof" the electric cords that Kasey (my 4 month old Dachshund) so loves to chew. As it continues charging in its docking station, I now eagerly wait for the "green light" to tell me all systems are go.

More on the story! - Roomba Maiden Voyage - Back to Index